This article presents an interview with Dr. Sylvia O. Richardson, a pediatrician, speech-language pathologist, researcher, scholar, teacher, and clinician, who has been involved in the field of language-learning disabilities for many years. Widely-published in the areas of language disorders and dyslexia, and a former President of the American…

Reading fluency has been identified as a key goal for the elementary school reading curriculum. Despite its theoretical importance in reading development and research that has demonstrated its effectiveness in improving reading performance, many teachers are not familiar with effective methods of instruction for reading fluency and ways for…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 created the Reading First program to help ensure that all students could read at or above grade level by the end of grade 3. The program promotes practices recommended by the National Reading Panel for early reading instruction, highlighting essential components of reading instruction. As required by the…

The use of the term "response to intervention" focuses on its potential utility for diagnosis of learning disabilities. In this context, "response to intervention" can be understood as a diagnostic approach for determining which students are entitled to special educational services. It is important to notice that the validity of the RTI diagnostic…

In 1990, the Settlement Music School Kaleidoscope Preschool Arts Enrichment Program, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, created a preschool program to teach music and other creative arts to three- to five-year-olds. This article describes how the program works: how music teaches language and math, how dance teaches action words and spatial concepts,…

A reading instructor interested in reliving the experience of learning to read for the first time attempted to read "Androcles and the Lion" in Shavian Alphabet. The would-be reader of Shavian faces a page of hooks and slants completely unfamiliar, but there is no translation problem. As soon as the reader can pronounce out loud the…

The program described in this paper makes beginning reading an activity in which children could use all of their cognitive and affective abilities to experience the images and ideas within the piece. The introduction points out that children can become actively involved in reading by writing poetry because they are creating the reading material…

Various aspects of beginning reading programs in six countries are discussed in the five articles in this booklet. In the first article, the principles and methods of instruction used in Sweden are described and trends in beginning reading instruction are noted. The importance of a verbal environment, teacher competence, and early diagnosis in…

A prereading model based on a 9-month longitudinal study of 45 deaf preschool children from state residential schools is presented. The model contends that reading can be initiated by giving deaf children opportunities to match their internalized manual language to printed words, stressing reading-related activities involving parents, teachers,…

This pamphlet describes the Texas Reading Initiative, a comprehensive plan aimed at improving reading instruction in Texas and begun after a challenge was issued by Governor George W. Bush that each and every child must learn to read. It lists the 8 key elements that were established to guide the initiative (including increasing awareness of…

Presents three examples of how basal reading programs miss opportunities to build word and world knowledge: lack of focus on systematically building essential knowledge and vocabulary during teacher read-alouds and discussions aimed at building background knowledge; wasting time by including too many lessons on formal reading comprehension skills;…

Describes the benefits of effective reading instruction for at-risk children at the preschool, kindergarten, and first grade levels. Notes that early reading delays are quickly magnified as children move through the early grades. Asserts that public education is the fundamental equalizer in the United States and that it enables children from poor…

Discusses research that supports the view that early phonological awareness affects children's ability to exploit the alphabetic system, and so to develop a sublexical route from print to sound to meaning. Discusses implications for teachers. (RS)

Describes program components or experiences that support and foster Reading Recovery teacher training. Explores the role of behind-the-glass lessons in developing teachers' understandings and teaching skills. Proposes several basic principles of Reading Recovery's approach to teacher education. (RS)

Discusses two questions concerning entering first graders' abilities in language awareness: what are the connections from skills knowledge to beginning reading for these children; and what additional skills or experiences are needed that will help these children move toward reading on their own? (NH)